Game device



J. HERZER GAME DEVICE Sept. 3, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 6, 1955 tvr INVENTOR. JOSEPH HERZER BY FlGyl ATTORNEY Sept. 3, 1957 J. HERZER GAME DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 6, 1955 FfG. 3

F I G.

F l G. 8

F I G '7 INVENTOR.

JOSEPH HERZER F/IG. 5 FIG. 6

ATTORNEY United States Patnt GAME DEVICE Joseph Herzer, South Bend, Ind.

Application October 6, 1955, Serial No. 538,839

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-129) The present invention relates to an instrument for playing a game and more particularly to a novel cue for use in the game of shuflleboard.

In the game of shufileboard discs are propelled by the players with a cue having a long handle and a head for engaging and guiding the disc as the player executes a play. The head, which consists of a member having a concave surface or a pair of spaced fingers for contacting the edge of the discs, slides along on the surface of the court propelling the discs to the opposite end of the court. Since the skill of a player depends to a great extent on his ability to accurately guide the disc on the court and to impart the right amount of force to the disc to obtain the desired distance of travel, the structure and condition of the tip of the head becomes highly important if a player is to excel in the game. It is therefore one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide a shuffleboard cue which gives a player accurate and full control over the disc while executing a play.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shuflleboard cue which is so constructed and designed that it resists wear and, if wear does occur, remains balanced and retains its accuracy and effectiveness for controlling the disc throughout the execution of a play.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tip for a shuffleboard cue which has a substantially unchanging area in contact with the surface of the court throughout the complete execution of a shot by a player.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sturdy, light weight shuflieboard cue the performance of which is little affected by wear on the surface of the tip from sliding contact with the surface of the court.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of my shuffleboard cue showing it in position with relation to a disc for the execution of a shot;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of my cue;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of my cue, taken on line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar to that shown in Figure 3, but illustrating a modification in the structural details of my cue;

Figures 5 and 6 are fragmentary views of the tip of the cue, illustrating the manner in which it slides on the surface of the shuflleboard court;

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are elevational views of the tip of a conventional shuffleboard cue, illustrating the manner in which it slides on the surface of the court.

Referring more specifically to the drawings and to Figures 1 and 2 in particular, numeral 10 designates the handle of my cue and numeral 12 the head which consists of two laterally extending arms 14 and 16 secured to one end of the handle in the manner illustrated in Figures 3 or 4, and shoes or tips 18 and 28 on the free end of arms 14 and 16, respectively. Shoes 18 and 20 are secured to the end of the respective arms by members 22 and 24 rigidly attached to the end of the arms by rivets 26 and 28 extending completely through said members and arms. Any other suitable means of joining the members to the arms may be used; for example they may be welded, braced or bolted to the arms, or they may be formed integrally with the arms from the same stock. Members 22 and 24 form a pair of spaced fingers projecting beyond the end of the arms for supporting shoes 18 and 20 which are rigidly secured between the fingers by a rivet 30 extending laterally through said fingers and shoes. To prevent the shoes from rotating on the rivet as they slide on the surface of the court, the fingers are seated snugly into parallel slots 32 in the side walls of the shoes and are held firmly in said slots by rivets 30 so that no relative movement between the fingers and the shoes is possible; thus a rigid and rugged structure is formed between the arms and their respective shoes. The manner in which a disc 33 is engaged by the shoes is illustrated in Figure 1.

The arms, which are curved inwardly and joined together at the center, are secured to the lower end 'of the handle by a screw 34 extending through the arms at their point of juncture and threadedly received in a hollow internally threaded cylindrical member 38 secured in the lower end of the hollow tubular handle. Member 38 which fits snugly in the handle is held therein by an internally extending flange 40 on the lower end of the tubular portion 41 of the handle, said flange being formed by rolling or otherwise deforming the edge of the tubular portion inwardly after member 38 has been inserted in the tubular portion. Flange 40 preferably extends in wardly and then upwardly adjacent the threaded hole of member 38, as shown in Figure 3, wherein said member is shown as having an end configuration conforming to that design. The lower end of the handle assembled in the foregoing manner seats in a round recess 42 formed in the surface of the arms at their point of juncture and is held firmly therein by screw 34 when-it is threaded into and tightened in member 38. The bottom of recess 42 also preferably has a configuration conforming to the shape of flange 48 so that the flange is securely clamped between the bottom of the recess and. member 38 by the screw, thus preventing the handle from working loose as it is being used in executing the plays. After the handle is attached to the arms as described, no rotational movement between the arms and the handle will normally occur; however, to positively lock the handle and arms together so that no such rotational movement can occur, a pin 44 seated in member 38 and extending through flange 40 into a hole in one of the arms at the bottom of the recess may be used. This pin which is held in its hole in member 38 by a snug fit has the additional function of preventing member 38 from rotating as screw 34 is threaded into said member when the handle and arms are being assembled.

Figure 4 shows a modified form of the means for securing the handle to the arms and, since this modification is similar to the one previously described, like numerals will be used to designate like parts. Cylindrical member 38 is secured in the lower end of tubular portion 41 by a flange 50 which is formed by rolling the edge of the tubular portion under a shoulder 52 on the lower end of member 38. Pin 44 is also preferably used in this modification to prevent member 38 from turning in tubular portion 41 as the handle and arms are being assembled and to prevent the handle from rotating relative to the arms. The pin only intersects the edge of flange 50 and thus can be inserted in its hole in member 38 before the flange is rolled under shoulder 52. When the handle and the arms are assembled as shown in Figure 4 with the lower end of the handle in recess 42,.

3 screw 34 is tightened sufi'iciently to clamp firmly flange 50 between shoulder 52 and the bottom of the recess.

Shoes 18 and 20 are designed to give the maximum accuracy and control by the player over the disc. The entire surface of the shoes which comes in contact with the surface of the court, namely .edge surfaces 69 and 62 depending upon which edge is down,has a uniform curvatureso that, regardless of how high or how "low the player may hold the handle, the area :of the shoe in contact with the court surface remains constant. the force exerted by theplayer in making a shot does not vary as he swings the handle downwardly on his forward movement of the cue. In this movement the shoe area in' contact with the court is near the toe at the start of the stroke. moved forward and the handle downwardly, the area in contact with the court moves toward the heel of the shoe; the area however in contact with the court remains the same so that no extraneous factor is introduced into the execution of the shot for which compensation would have to be made by the player. This extraneous factor is often present in the shot with conventional cues having flat surfaces and corners contacting the court, as illustrated diagrammatically in Figures 7, 8 and 9. At the beginning of the shot, the shoe is in the position shown in Figure '7 with the forward corner 64 of the shoe resting on the court, and as the cue is moved forward and the handle downwardly, the long fiat surface 66 comes in contact with the court, thus greatly increasing the area of the shoe in contact with the court and consequently increasing the force required by the player to propel the disc forward. As the one is moved forward to the position approaching the end of the stroke, the heel 68 of the shoe comes in contact with the court decreasing the area in contact with the court and hence decreasing the force required to propel the disc forward. This variation in the force required to execute a play tends to decrease the accuracy and control which a player has over the disc while it is being shot.

While the curvature of edge surfaces 60 and 62 may be varied from one one to another it is generally desirable to have a curve with a relatively large radius, such as for example a radius of two inches. This curvature together with the flat transversely extending surface provides sufficient area in contact with the court that minor defects in the surface of the court have little or no effect on :Hence As the shot is executed and the one isthe accuracy of a shot and also provides a sufiiciently large area in contact with the court that wear of the curved surface is greatly minimized. The forward end of the shoes which contacts the disc is preferably straight as shown at numeral 70 in Figures 5 and 6. The shoes can be made of any suitable material, preferably of light weight, long wearing material, such as synthetic resins, hard rubber and certain plastics and hard woods. Fiber reinforced phenolic resins have been found particularly suitable. The rest of the cue is preferably made of metal, such as aluminum for the handle .10,-arms' 14 and 16 and members 22 and 24 and steel for screw 34 and cylindrical member 38.

Various changes and modifications may be made in the construction of the foregoing cue without departing from the scope of the present invention.

I claim:

A cue for propelling a disc on a shuflieboard court, comprising two spaced shoes having a straight contact surface at the forward edge for engaging the disc on the periphery thereof, opposed arcuate surfaces on said shoes adapted to slide on the shuffieboard court and having a uniform curvature throughout its length from front to back of a' radius of approximately two inches and thus greater than the height of the shoe when in playing position and having a transverse axis parallel to the surface of the court, a handle, two arms joined together at one end and joined to one end of said handle at their point of juncture, the opposite ends of said arms being spaced from one another, and members secured on opposite sides of the free end of each arm to form two projections beyond the end of said arms, said shoes having grooves in the sides thereof for receiving said members and being rigidly joined thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 676,736 Dean June 18, 1901 1,641,525 Boessow Sept. 6, 1927 1,674,715 Caulkins June 26, 1928 1,959,825 I Hess May 22, 1934 2,239,391 Krause Apr. 22, 1941 2,433,496 Von Pein Dec. 30, 1947 2,567,313 Bailey Sept. 11, 1951 2,577,189 Hammett Dec. 4, 1951 

